You Don’t Need Star San, Sanitizer (or any other cleaner for that matter)

In my system, that is. One Pot Brewing involves a 7.5 gallon aluminum pot that I clean just like any other pot in my kitchen. Before I used this system, of course I sanitized – keeping a clean brewing environment is the #1 most important thing. However, now I mash, boil, ferment, and bottle in the same pot. When I’m done bottling, I clean it with hot soapy water, rinse, and dry. Because I am doing an extended boil prior to fermentation – which I believe is called sterilization – there is no need to sanitize. One less thing, man, one less thing.

I always thought it was weird that brewers used special cleaning agents like Star San. They are expensive and probably very similar to normal cleaners. Cleaning is important, but I think it has reached paranoia levels.

What about my bottles, you say? Previously, this was a real pain in my ass. I would fill a bathtub with sanitzer, throw the bottles in, and get water all over the fucking kitchen. It sucked. Bottle “trees” didn’t seem like a good option – What do they hold…like 4 bottles? And probably take hours to fuck with – they look like Fisher Price kids’ toys. Anyway, those days are gone. I’m lucky to have fairly new dishwasher that has a “sanitize” feature, which not only cleans bottles but gets them really, really hot. The washer comfortably holds 25 22-oz bottles: exactly what I need. I throw them in, hit the sanitize button, and about 2 hours later they are ready to go. No cleaner needed. I have never had a problem, and it’s very convenient. I take them out, put Carb Drops in each bottle and then bottle (bottling video).